Oh, so many
subplots in the episode! There’s the
Enchanted Forest flashback subplot, which takes place after Charming revived
Snow from the Poisoned Apple induced sleeping curse, we’ve got the issue with
Emma and Mary Margret/Snow White stuck in ravaged Enchanted Forest who also
have to contend with a new advisory in Cora, and then there’s David/Charming,
who is hesitant to allow Henry to assist him in the task of bringing Emma and
Snow back out of a desire to keep his grandson safe from the side-effects of
magic. However, after Henry breaks into
Regina’s vault and nearly gets bitten by Agrabahn vipers (are those the same
ones the genie/Magic Mirror/Sidney Glass used on King Leopold? Regina still has them? Either there's some sort of enchantment keeping the vipers alive, or those snakes have incredibly long lifespans),
he comes to realize that, much like was said in Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon, ‘you can’t stop him, you can only prepare
him.’ As such, he agrees to accept
Henry’s help, and even begins to help instruct him in swordsmanship. Of course we also see they’re being spied on
by Albert Spencer, King George’s Storybrooke counterpart, leaving us thinking ‘aw, crud, he’s still around? Joy
bunnies.’
In the
flashback, Snow and Charming are beginning their plans to take back the kingdom
from King George, but their plans are put on hold when they decide to seek
refuge at the cottage of Charming’s birth mother, who is mortally wounded by a
stray poisoned arrow when King George’s army track them down. But one of King George’s hired knights, who
is none other than Sir Lancelot of King Arthur lore, decides to help them,
particularly after King George tricks Snow into drinking an evil potion that
leaves her barren. To save his mother’s
life, Charming decides to return to Lake Nostros (that place again), hoping the
restorative waters will cure the poison’s affects. Of course, since Charming killed the siren
back in ‘What Happened to Fredrick,’ the lake is dried up, with only a small
amount of the magical water left trapped inside a shell. But Charming’s mother, who learns of Snow’s
predicament in route to Lake Nostros, chooses to give up her one chance to be
healed and gets Lancelot to sneak the restorative waters into Snow’s drink. It’s really a shame that Charming’s birth
mother had to die. She was such a sweet
woman, and the fact that she was willing to sacrifice her own life to ensure
the happiness of her son, and the daughter-in-law she only just met, proved
that.
With Emma
and Mary Margret/Snow, they find out that the leader of the village of
Enchanted Forest’s refuges is Snow and Charming’s old friend, Lancelot. When Snow comes up with the idea of possibly
using the magic wardrobe that was used to spare Emma from Regina’s curse in
order to get back to Storybrooke, Lancelot agrees to help by having Mulan accompany
them on their journey to Snow and Charming's old castle. There is a temporary issue with Aurora
who, still hurting from losing Phillip, blames Emma and Mary Margret/Snow for
his death and seriously considers revenge, but that problem is resolved quite
quickly, enabling us to focus on the character development going on.
Throughout
this subplot, we get the chance to see Emma and her mother trying to figure out
how to relate to each other now. For
example, their differing ideas with how to deal with Cora in the prison pit in
the beginning. Snow, remembering exactly
what Cora was like in the past, is all for having nothing to do with her while
Emma is believing that she can handle whatever Cora can throw at her, and that
it wouldn’t hurt to hear her out, given their current lack of other options. What makes these interactions even more
interesting to watch is that both women have equally good points. Snow was correct in feeling that Cora could
not be trusted. On the other hand, Emma
was trying to keep her head in the game by considering all the possible
options, which is in itself a good and oftentimes rare quality. In the end, their interactions are founded by
one simple fact. Snow White is a veteran
of the Enchanted Forest. She knows the
dangers of this land extremely well, and also knows Emma has only spent a few
minutes here as a newborn baby. This of
course means that she needs someone to help guide her. Emma, however, is a woman who is not
accustomed to having someone guide her.
She’s had to survive on her own wits for as long as she can
remember. So, there’s a part of her that
is feeling that Snow is trying to hold her hand and coddle her because she
doesn’t feel Emma can take care of herself.
But after the whole incident with the ogre (which is nothing at all like
how they are depicted in the Shrek franchise) Emma slowly starts to accept that
Snow is guiding her not because she thinks her daughter is weak, but because
she just doesn’t want to lose her again.
Upon
reaching the magical wardrobe within the ruins of Snow and Charming’s castle,
they discover that Lancelot was not Lancelot at all, but Cora in disguise. While this is a nice twist, I do have a
question about it. If Cora was posing as
Lancelot this whole time, then who told that one guard that their leader wanted
to see them? Cora was down in the pit when the guard showed up, so how could she be posing as Lancelot in order to ask the guard to
fetch Emma and Snow at the exact same time?
Does Cora have a Time-turner? Can
she make magical clones of herself? Or
is this just a minor plothole?
Anyway,
after revealing herself, Cora tries to use the wardrobe to get to Storybrooke
herself. But Emma, not willing to allow
Cora anywhere near Henry, sets the wardrobe on fire.
However, this also destroys her chance at getting back, leaving Mulan
and Aurora agreeing to help them find another way. No one realizes that Cora returns after they
leave to collect some of the wardrobe’s ashes.
Putting your
child first really was an underlying theme in this episode, which I quite
enjoyed. I think the last time we had a
theme that was interwoven throughout both the episode’s subplots was back in ‘The Price of Gold.’ Of course, we see how Charming’s mother
willingly gave up her chance to be healed by the water of Lake Nostros so Snow
could be spared by the effects of King George’s evil potion. Then, when they reach the ruins of Snow and
Charming’s castle, Emma is able to see what would have been her nursery had
things played out the way they should have.
Seeing this, and hearing her mother talk about the kind of life she’d
wanted to have with her, helps her fully grasp how hard it must have been for
Snow to send her through the wardrobe but did it because she wanted to spare
her from Regina’s curse. Like with
Charming’s mother, Ruth, Snow willingly gave up the chance to have the life
she’d wanted for the sake of her child.
A choice Emma echoes when she quite possibly sacrifices her only chance
at returning to Storybrooke and getting back to Henry to keep Cora from getting
anywhere near him. What’s really interesting
that this self-sacrifice was demonstrated by three generations of women in the
same family. First Charming’s mother,
then his wife, and finally his daughter.
That was a
really good scene this episode with Henry and Jefferson/the Mad Hatter. Jefferson is still too afraid to reach out to
his daughter, even though she now has her memories back and is clearly looking
for him, on account of how he fears she will hate him for how he left her. However, Henry is someone who knows what it’s
like to be left by a parent, making him the perfect person to give Jefferson
the push he needs. Although, the
difference between Jefferson and Emma is that Jefferson did not intend to leave
Grace and only did so because Regina tricked him. With Emma, she left Henry because she didn’t
feel like she was good enough to be his mother and thought he’d be better off
without her. Although, I suppose that’s
all semantics. Regardless, Henry’s words
resonate with Jefferson, giving him the courage to reunite with Grace/Paige at
last. And it is a really sweet reunion,
seeing as how Grace doesn’t seem angry at him at all and just runs over to
him. The only downside is that this is
the very last time we ever see Jefferson, unless you count his appearance in
flashbacks. While I know his storyline
is completed in this episode, he was a rather fun character, so it’s a shame he
never comes back for even a brief cameo after this.
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